


More Than Friends

by MagicInHerMadness



Category: Pitch (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, High School AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 19:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9510578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicInHerMadness/pseuds/MagicInHerMadness
Summary: Ginny and Mike experience an interesting change in their relationship in the middle of their junior year of high school.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone who knows my writing for other fandoms knows I love love love high school AUs and high school!Bawson will be no exception

Mike took the unoccupied seat behind his best friend on their school bus, leaning forward to rest his chin on the back of her seat. She started when she realized he was there and pulled her earbuds out of her ears. Mike smirked. "I'm terribly offended that you didn't save me a seat."

Ginny looked down at her backpack taking up the seat beside him then looked back at her friend. "You could have just moved my bag."

"Wouldn't want to impose," he replied, his lips curling into a grin. He leaned farther over the seat and looked down at her red sundress. "Ginny Baker not wearing workout clothes? Somebody call CNN."

Ginny laughed. "Evelyn gave this to me. It's too long for her."

"Well you clean up nice, Baker. Better than I thought you would," he teased.

"You should follow my lead and maybe shave once in a while."

Mike laughed. "You love the beard. All the ladies do."

"No. Rachel loves the beard. The rest of us are just happy she's taking one for the team." He frowned at the mention of Rachel's name and Ginny turned around, leaning over the seat. "What?"

"Me and Rachel, uh, broke up last week. She was cheating on me with that guy David on the basketball team." He delivered the information with no particular inflection, just a small frown.

"I'm sorry," Ginny replied, reaching over the seat to squeeze his shoulder. "Want me to kick her ass?"

He finally smiled. "Joining the softball team is the worst thing that's ever happened to you. A few days in the weight room and you're Muhammad Ali."

Ginny laughed. "It's my duty as a best friend to punch girls because you can't hit them."

Mike shrugged. "Don't bother. She's not worth it."

"Are you sure?" She took his face in her hands, squeezed it affectionately. "I hate to see you all frowny."

Mike laughed as he shook her hands off his face. "Oh fuck off, Baker."

Ginny laughed harder, her dimples popping out. Mike wondered how he'd spent so much time looking at her without ever noticing how cute she was with that crinkle above her nose. She offered him an earbud and he took it, placed it in his ear. He smirked at the opening strains of Todd Rundgren's "Hello It's Me" then looked up at his best friend. "You and your 70's make out music."

"This is the best song ever," she replied. "Besides ‘Tupelo Honey,’ which is almost definitely about me."

The bus came to a stop in front of the school and Mike returned her earbud, waiting until she grabbed her bag and moved into the aisle before following her off the bus.

"Hey did you do that chemistry homework?"

"Yeah."

"Can I copy it?"

"No."

Mike nudged her with his elbow. "Come on, Baker. I just got my heart broken."

"Weren't you gonna break up with Rachel anyway?"

"Yeah but that's not the point." Ginny shrugged as they entered the building and headed down the hall to their lockers. Ginny tucked her phone in the pocket of her dress when she spotted Rachel at her locker. Mike watched her eyes narrow and grabbed her arm. "Don't, Gin."

"I just wanna talk to her." They both knew it was a lie, the same lie he'd told before he broke Trevor Davis's jaw after the senior told everyone about getting Ginny alone in the laundry room at a house party when she and Mike were freshmen. Ginny pulled her arm free and walked over to Rachel who turned away from the mirror hanging on her locker door, her eyes widening with surprise at the sight of Ginny. They'd never been friends, only tolerating each other out of mutual affection for Mike.

"Hey Ginny. What's up?"

"Don't hey me. You cheated on Mike." Ginny crowded her against the locker, clenched her teeth and her fist. "If I didn't have a game this week, I'd kick your ass."

"I—"

Ginny lunged at her and she jumped, hit the back of her locker with a clatter as she shrieked, attracting the attention of the other students in the hallway. "Shut up. And stay away from Mike."

Rachel nodded sheepishly and Ginny turned to walk away, rejoining Mike at their lockers. He snickered, shook his head. "Tough talk for somebody in polka dot Keds."

Ginny looked down at her new shoes and smiled then opened her locker and began emptying her backpack. "I'll kick your ass too, Lawson."

She handed him her chemistry homework which he tucked in his own bag. "I'm getting my car back tomorrow."

"You should have dumped her for that stunt." Rachel had gotten pulled over for a speeding ticket in Mike's restored El Camino and he had taken the fall for her because her parents had taken her license for a similar offense in her own car.

Mike shrugged. "So you're saying I should leave the Bat Mobile at home and we should keep taking the bus?"

"If you're gonna call it the Bat Mobile, definitely leave it at home," Ginny replied with a smile.

"Shut up." Mike bumped her again. "Wanna skip history?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

They made their way out of the building to the patio area behind the cafeteria. Ginny put her backpack down then perched on the tabletop. Mike sat on the bench, pulled a twin pack of Twinkies out of his backpack and opened it then offered Ginny one. She grinned as she bit it, and Mike smiled at the dollop of creme filling on her top lip. He reached up and wiped it off then licked it off his thumb, smirking at Ginny as she stared at him. "What?"

Ginny shrugged. "Just didn't know we did stuff like that."

Mike laughed. "I've spent at least three separate summers sticking my tongue in your mouth. This is pretty mild, actually."

"Don't remind me. I missed a whole month of softball practice because you gave me mono."

"And I missed a whole month of baseball because Shelby Glass gave it to me. It happens."

"It shouldn't have happened, Typhoid Mary."

Mike laughed. "You're the one who wanted to learn to French kiss. I was just trying to help a friend."

"You were not just helping! I had to let you touch my boobs to get you to teach me."

"It's not like you even had boobs back then. You've barely got them now."

Ginny snorted. "You're the only one complaining, Lawson."

"Didn't know you were giving peep shows, Baker." He smiled cheekily.

Ginny grinned. "Oh you wouldn't miss that for the world."

Mike shrugged, smiling as he leaned on the table beside her. "Personality aside, you're not bad. If I didn't know you, I'd do you."

"If you thought I'd do you, you'd do me."

"Says the girl who asked to French me."

"I was 13!"

Mike stood, leaning close to her face as he smiled. "So if I kissed you now, you wouldn't kiss me back?"

"Depends on how long it's been since you've kissed Rachel."

Mike cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is that all it depends on?"

Ginny smiled, reaching out to tug at his beard. "Maybe."

Before Mike could reply, the bell rang. Ginny laughed as she hopped off the table and picked up her backpack. Mike stood and picked up his backpack, shaking his head at her back as she headed for the school. He wasn't surprised to find Evelyn and Blip at their lockers. Evelyn turned to Blip with a grin. "Told you they were together. I win."

"It's no fun if I don't let you win at least once in a while." Blip smiled as he leaned down to kiss her, the winnings for their wager regarding their missing friends.

Evelyn grinned at Ginny. "You look so cute in my dress!"

"I'm surprised she agreed to wear something that isn't made of spandex," Mike teased.

Ginny bumped him with her elbow before she opened her locker and took out her math book. She looked at her best friend. "Don't lose my homework."

"I'm just gonna take your name off it and turn it in," he replied with a grin.

Ginny snorted then turned to Evelyn, tossing Mike a look over her shoulder when she found Blip and Evelyn leaning against a locker, grinning as they rubbed noses. "Good thing I haven't eaten. I'd hate to throw up on such an attractive display of affection."

Evelyn smirked. "You're just jealous you don't have anyone to Eskimo kiss."

"Isn't it a terrible shame the only tongue that's frequently in my mouth is my own? How ever will I survive?" Ginny sneered as they began to walk toward the girls' math class. Mike and Ginny exchanged a look when Blip and Evelyn began to kiss goodbye. "They're single-handedly keeping the chapstick industry alive."

Mike shook his head, nudged Blip. "Let's go, Sanders."

The couple reluctantly parted, exchanging saccharine "I'll miss you's" as if they wouldn't see each other in an hour. Mike smiled at Ginny, grabbed her around her waist. "I don't know how I'm gonna make it a whole fifty minutes without you. What if you smell different at lunch or something?"

"Don't make me think about it. Just promise you won't forget what I look like," Ginny cried.

"Never," he laughed as Ginny collapsed against him in a fit of giggles.

"Single people are so funny," Evelyn told Blip.

"I think you mean bitter," he replied with a smile. Evelyn went into the classroom and Blip started down the hall.

Mike grinned at Ginny, tightened his hold on her waist. "Wanna kiss me before I go?"

Ginny laughed. "I'm never wearing a dress around you again. It's made you crazy."

"You wish," he replied with a laugh.

"Tell you what, if you'll shave, I'll French you just once for old time's sake."

"You hate the beard because you don't it's magic."

The bell rang, signaling the start of class. "I know it's made us both late."

"Then kiss me so I'll leave."

Ginny squinted at him until the teacher cleared her throat. She rolled her eyes. "Since you're begging..."

She took his face in her hands and pressed a kiss to his lips, not expecting the jolt that went through her and made her quickly release him, her face red. Mike grinned as he let her go. "Your whole life's different, isn't it?"

Ginny sneered. "Yeah. I've probably got something worse than mono now."

"Joining us today, Ms. Baker?" the teacher asked.

Ginny blushed and hurried to her seat. "Sorry."

The teacher nodded then turned to Mike. "Mr. Lawson, I'm always terribly sad to see you leave, but I believe you're needed elsewhere."

"See you at lunch, Baker," Mike called then turned to the teacher and grinned. "Always a pleasure, ma'am."

"I'm sure," she replied as she walked over and shut the door.

x

Ginny deliberately ignored Evelyn's not so subtle attempts to get her attention as the teacher droned on about polynomials. Her phone began an incessant buzzing in her lap and she sighed as she unlocked it before the buzzing caught the teacher's attention. She wasn't surprised to see several texts from Evelyn.

E: Mike kissed you

E: On the mouth

E: Like forreal

E: Deadass

E: He kissed you

E: I am unable to even

E: ANSWER ME YOU COWARD

Ginny snorted a quiet laugh as she typed her replies.

G: He was joking.

G: We were talking about how he gave me mono when we were 13 while we skipped history.

G: It doesn't mean anything.

G: Calm down, Blanche.

Evelyn snickered beside her and replied: Oh wow a golden girls reference. So trendy.

G: It's actually a Tennessee Williams reference. Put down the Cosmo once in a while, Ev.

E: Neither of those terms mean anything to me

G: Jesus fuck dude, why do you even come to school?

E: To see my boyfriend

E: And show off my clothes

E: And learn the math I have to teach your dumb ass every week

E: We're off topic, Baker. You kissed Mike

E: This is beyond

E: Beyond beyond

E: I am STILL unable

G: Stop. Now.

E: So what does the beard feel like?

G: We're not talking about this

E: It looks really soft

E: Like it might tickle

G: It does a little

E: HOOOOOOOO MY GOD

E: THIS IS EVERYTHING

E: I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL BLIP

G: Shut up

X

Later that night, Ginny was almost asleep when her phone buzzed. She squinted in the darkness at her phone screen at the text from Mike.

M: Let me in

G: 5 minutes

She rolled out of bed and sat her futon upright. She searched her dark room for pajama pants to put on under her large white sleep shirt then before she left her converted basement room. She trudged upstairs to open the front door and let Mike into her house. He smirked at her pajamas. "Well this is an attractive look."

"Shut up," Ginny replied as she turned to head back to the basement, Mike following.

"Why are you in bed so early?" he asked as he shut her door.

"It's 10 o'clock. That's late enough when I've gotta be up at 6:30."

"Why do you have to be up at 6:30?" He kicked off his shoes and sat on her futon, pushing it back into a bed.

"Because femininity is purely performative." Ginny climbed onto her bed beside him, lying on her side to look at him.

Mike laughed then asked, "So who's taking you to the Snow Ball?"

"Nobody asked me except that guy Noah from the morning announcements."

Mike laughed. "You should go. You might get your own video on his youtube channel."

Ginny laughed as she shook her head. "He's too nice. He even calls himself nice. Major red flag."

"So he should call himself a date rapist?"

Ginny shook her head again. "An actual nice guy doesn't have to tell you he's nice. He just is."

"But if he's nice and he knows he's nice, why can't he say it?" Mike couldn't believe he was actually arguing on behalf of a creepy little shit like Noah Casey.

"It's like saying no offense. Whatever comes after is almost definitely about to be really offensive. If you have to tell someone you're nice, you're probably an asshole." She rolled onto her stomach. "And that's such a lame reason to get someone to date you. Like, is nothing else about him interesting? Is his sole good quality that people don't find him instantly repellant?"

Mike cocked an eyebrow at her. "So you're saying that girls don't actually want nice guys?"

She shook her head. "I'm saying that nice should be a given. You don't get points for doing what you're supposed to do. If nice was all it took, I could go out with a _nice_ mannequin. Plus, guys who call themselves nice usually aren't actually nice. They're entitled. They think they deserve a chance just because they didn't catcall you or something."

"I'm so confused. Should I be nice or not?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "First of all, I can't believe my parents want me to get one of you people and build a life with you in it. Second, I'm not saying you shouldn't be nice. I'm not saying you should be some beefy jock who yells at girls in the hallway. But you don't get a medal for deigning to treat women like people. Girls aren't vending machines you put kindness in until sex falls out. It's like...you're nice to me because you actually like me as a person. He's nice because he wants to fuck me. There's a difference and it's palpable."

"So I can't be nice because I like you _and_ because I want to fuck you?"

"Of course you can. It’s like... Take Blip and Ev for example. He's nice to her because he genuinely cares about her. Maybe he's extra nice when he's trying to get some, but his niceness isn't predicated on whether or not she's in the mood. It's the motive that makes the difference."

"And how do you know the difference?"

"Noah was genuinely surprised when I turned him down. He actually said, 'Wow'. He was like completely under the impression that relationships are quid pro quo, that treating me with the most basic courtesy would get him laid, and he couldn't understand why it didn't."

"So he's an asshole?"

"Yes!" She laughed. "Any more questions?"

"I've got one more. Why were you being so weird earlier?"

"Why were _you_ being so weird earlier?"

"I was just being myself."

"So your regular self wants to kiss me?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes."

Ginny smiled. "What about now?"

He pulled a face at her. "The men's pajamas are killing the mood."

She laughed. "Whatever."

"So how does your regular self feel about kissing me?"

"Like she's gonna get a communicable disease."

Mike laughed, poked her side. "Do you have to be an asshole all the time?"

"No. I have to sleep."

"Come on, Gin. I'm serious."

"I’m not opposed to kissing you."

He grinned. "I knew you wanted me."

"This is why I don't tell you stuff," she laughed as she reached out to push his chest.

"So, hypothetically, if I asked you to the dance and spent the whole night being nice to you, I wouldn't get laid?"

"You wouldn't get laid anyway, but definitely not if you're being nice to me. You're never nice to me. I'd know something was up." Ginny laughed. "But why the sudden interest in me?"

Mike shrugged, smiling. "Well lately I've been feeling like you're interested in me."

Ginny snorted, her face flushed. She figured it wouldn’t take Mike long to notice her frequent lingering looks or the growing obviousness of her dislike for his girlfriend. "You could have had me when I was 4, Mike. You're the one who's late to the party."

His eyes widened. "Seriously? And there I was, spending all day on my hippity hop like an asshole."

Ginny laughed. "Be serious."

His ears tinged pink under her gaze and he looked away from her, staring at her ceiling. "I don't know. I've just been thinking about you a lot."

"What about me?"

"Remember last month when we ditched and you took a nap in my bed?"

"Yeah, but you didn't even sleep in the bed with me."

He shook his head. "It wasn't that. I mean, you're cute when you sleep—being quiet doesn't hurt either—but I didn't really think anything of it because it's nothing new. I remember when we were little enough to actually sleep together. But after you left for practice, Rachel came over and she smelled your perfume or shampoo or something on my sheets. She flipped out because she thought we hooked up or something, and I didn't get it. Then when I asked her about it, she went on this rant about how you're so smart and always making me laugh and she spent like 20 minutes talking about how pretty you are. I was starting to think she had a little crush on you—I still do to be honest, and if you're even a little curious I would absolutely set that up for you—"

"Mike."

"Just a thought. And you know my birthday is coming up.” He snorted. “Anyway, I told her nothing was going on and she let it go, or at least she acted like she did, but I started thinking about it. You, I mean. You _are_ smart, and we _do_ have a shit ton of fun together, and you _are_ pretty. I don't know how I never noticed how pretty you are."

Ginny blushed but looked at him unsurely. "What am I supposed to do with this information a week after you dumped your girlfriend?"

Mike shrugged. "Whatever you want, I guess."

"What if...we do this on a trial basis? Like beta testing or something?"

"What?" He frowned.

"I mean, what if we just try it out for a few days? Nothing actually changes. We just test the waters a little."

"So you want me to be nice to you with absolutely no possibility of getting laid? I don't know, Baker."

Ginny laughed, pulled his beard. "Yeah, keep depending on that sense of humor to get you laid. It's clearly working."

Mike laughed, tweaked her nose. "Tell you what, Baker, since I'm never one to back down from a challenge, I'll give you the full Mike Lawson Experience. I'll walk you to class, carry your books, kiss you in the hallway. I'll even put my hand in your back pocket."

She laughed, her nose scrunched. "I'll pass on the hand in the back pocket."

"It's non-negotiable." He grinned, pulling her on top of him and laughing when she squealed.

A moment later there was a knock at her door and her father’s voice followed. "Ginny, who's here so late?"

"It's just Mike," she called, stifling a giggle as Mike slid his hands up the back of her t-shirt. He grinned when he realized she wasn't wearing a bra, giving her ribs a squeeze that made her jump.

"Oh. Hey Mike."

"Hey Pop," he called back.

"Don't stay up too late. Mom’s making waffles in the morning."

"Love you!" he replied. Bill Baker laughed and called goodnight as he walked away. Mike laughed, pushing Ginny's t-shirt up and drumming his fingertips in the small of her back. "You know what's nice about being so common around here? Nobody suspects me of trying to get in your pants."

Ginny laughed. "I guess everyone figures if you wanted to, you'd have done it by now."

Mike glanced over at the clock. "Well it's still early."

Ginny laughed as she rolled off him and kicked out of her pants. "So are you staying over or should I just bring you a waffle?"

"I'm staying over if you're gonna take your pants off," he replied with a smile.

Ginny smirked as she snatched her blanket from underneath him. "I'm going to sleep, perv."

Mike pulled off his hoodie and tossed it on the floor on top of her pants then tugged the blankets off her as he lay back. "Why do you only have one pillow?"

"Because I only have one head." She reached over the side of the bed and picked up her other pillow, making sure she hit him with it.

“Five minutes into the relationship and I’m already being abused. This is why you’re alone, Baker.”

Ginny kicked him under the covers as she turned off the light. “Shut up and go to sleep.”

“Aren’t you gonna kiss me goodnight?”

Ginny gave a heavy sigh as she turned over. “If I do, will you shut up so I can sleep?”

“Probably not,” he replied. Ginny scooted close to him under the covers and felt around in the dark for his face.

“You’re gonna shave tomorrow.”

“Not a chance.” He sat up and found her face in the dark, pulled her close and kissed her. Her tongue in his mouth surprised him enough to smile against her mouth. “You’re a lot better at this than you used to be, Baker.”

“I found a better teacher.”

Mike laughed as he let her go, tweaked her nose. “Well that’s the last time I kiss you.”

X

Four Days Later

Ginny had to admit there was something to walking around with Mike’s arm around her shoulders. And with his hand in the back pocket of her loose jeans. And with his hand in hers. By lunch, she was beginning to think there was just something to touching Mike in general.

She plopped on his lap at their lunch table and he wrapped around her, shielding her from the afternoon wind and planting his chin on her shoulder. “You need a better sweater. You’ve got goose bumps.”

She shrugged. “It’s colder than I thought it would be today.”

Evelyn sat opposite them and raised her eyebrows at them. “So this is a thing now?”

“I’m just using him for sex,” Ginny replied.

Mike grinned. “I’m letting her use me.”

Blip joined them and looked at his girlfriend who grinned. “It’s a thing, apparently.”

He pulled out his wallet and handed her a twenty-dollar bill. “You’re getting too good at this.”

Evelyn laughed as she took the money and stuffed it in her pocket. “I’m just observant.”

Blip didn’t reply, instead nudging her and pointing his chin at Mike and Ginny who were absorbed in their own bubble, foreheads touching as they talked with their mouths so close together that Evelyn wondered why they were wasting time with words. Blip cracked, “I hope neither one of them gets a cold.”

“What do you want for lunch?” Mike asked, rubbing Ginny’s nose with his own.

“Let’s go to Panera,” she replied, her arms around his neck, an immovable smile on his face.

“You know that wait’s gonna be hell.”

“We can kiss while we wait though.”

Mike smiled. “We can go to Sonic and kiss in the car while we wait.”

Ginny grinned and nodded. “Okay.”

Evelyn watched them reluctantly untangle and stand. She smirked. “We’re not hungry or anything. Thanks for the invite though.”

Ginny laughed. “This is how we’ve felt watching y’all for the past three years.”

Evelyn shook her head. “We were never that bad.”

“We argue too much to act like that,” Blip agreed, shaking his head as Mike slid his hand in Ginny’s back pocket, using his hold to pull her close.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “We’re like three years late. Do y’all mind?”

“Yes,” they replied in unison.

Mike laughed. “Too bad.”

They piled into Mike’s car and left campus for lunch. Blip smirked as Ginny plugged the AUX cord into her phone. “You’re letting Ginny pick music now? Fuck no.”

Mike turned to look at him in the backseat. “Can I touch your breasts?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then you don’t get a say in the music.”

Ginny smiled, wrinkling her nose at him. “Who said you can touch my breasts?”

“You can touch mine if I can touch yours,” he replied with a smile.

Ginny laughed. “Deal.”

He turned to smile at her as she slid closer to him on the front seat. She lay her head on his shoulder, sang, “ _If you don’t wanna settle down/ We can bounce around from town to town/ And that’s fine with me_ / _If you just wanna ride the breeze/ I’ll go anywhere/ West Virginia, baby/ I don’t care/ Mexico on a wild hair…_ ”

“ _Have you ever seen California_?” Mike joined, turning to grin at her.

“Push me out of the car,” Blip mumbled even as he grinned at Evelyn grinning at their friends.

They reached Sonic and Evelyn immediately pushed the back of the front seat to be let out. Ginny got out of the car then pulled the seat up so her friend could climb out. She moved to get back in the car but Evelyn grabbed her wrist and pulled her along to the bathroom.

Ginny leaned against the counter as Evelyn closed herself up in a stall. Her voice drifted over the door a moment later. “So you and Mike finally figured out you’re dating?”

“We’re not dating. We’re just…trying something,” Ginny replied.

“Oh bullshit! Y’all have been dating longer than me and Blip.” The toilet flushed and Evelyn emerged a minute later, standing beside Ginny at the sink and turning on the water to wash her hands. “I haven’t seen Mike this happy since his beard grew in. He’s been holding your hand, kissing you in the hallway, and buying you grape soda like he’s trying to give you diabetes.”

“That doesn’t mean we’re dating, Ev.”

“Well if that’s y’all being just friends, then how come you don’t kiss me like that?”

“You’re not my type,” Ginny replied with a laugh. Evelyn smirked at her friend’s toothy grin. “Last night he came over on his old bike and took me for a ride on his handlebars like we used to when we were younger. He took me back to _Rollermotion_ , Ev.”

Rollermotion was a skating rink that had been a prime hangout—then make out—location for the neighborhood kids as they grew up. It was where Evelyn and Blip had become an official couple at 14, and where Mike and Ginny had shared their first kiss at 12, a memory Mike had attempted to recreate the night before.

“Tell me everything! I want details: vivid, electrifying, specific details!” Evelyn perched herself on the sink, looking at her friend with wide eyes.

“We kissed. Like a real, grownup kiss.”

“Okay but I need to know more than that. What were you wearing? What was _he_ wearing? Who kissed who? _Set the scene!_ ” Ginny leveled her with a pointed look and she cleared her throat. “Sorry. But start from the beginning.”

xx

Ginny looked up from her history textbook when her phone buzzed. She wasn’t surprised to see a text from Mike.

M: wyd

G: Reading for tomorrow

M: fuck that. im otw to get you

G: Lol what if my boyfriend is here?

M: tell him I said hey

Ginny laughed as she scooted off her bed and went to her closet. She took off Mike’s hoodie and her Nike shorts, pulling a black  t-shirt dress out of her closet and slipping it on. She stepped into her worn Birkenstock sandals before she grabbed her purse and headed upstairs. Her mother was in the kitchen, chattering to her grandmother while she stirred chili in a pot.

“Mike’s coming to get me,” she said.

Janet placed her hand over the phone’s mouthpiece. “Is he coming back for dinner?”

“Probably.”

Janet nodded then turned back to the stove. Ginny turned to leave the kitchen but stopped when her mother said, “You know Mike, Ma. The one who always comes to dinner with us. He’s her boyfriend.”

Ginny turned around to gape at her mother. “No he isn’t!”

“He was hugging you on the porch yesterday,” Janet replied.

“How did you—”

“We have windows, Ginny.”

Before Ginny could argue, Mike entered the kitchen. Ginny frowned at him. “How did you get in here?”

“You left your keys in my car,” he replied as he handed them over. He smiled at Janet. “Hey Mom.”

“Hi Mike. Grandma’s on the phone,” Janet said as she went back to the stove, holding the phone away from her ear.

“Hey Nana,” Mike called.

“Hi Mike. Being a good boy?” Janet’s mother, Geneva, asked.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Coming to dinner on Sunday?”

Ginny smirked, rolling her eyes at her family’s love of Mike. “Yes ma’am.”

“Good. I’m making meatloaf.”

“Sweet,” he replied.

Ginny nudged him and jerked her head at the door then said, “Bye Nana.”

“Bye loves. Be good.”

“Yes ma’am,” they replied as they left the house.

They held hands all the way to the roller rink. “Remember when we used to love hanging out here?”

Ginny laughed and nodded. “Remember that 70’s party last summer? When Ev threw up in the parking lot?”

Mike laughed too, nodding as he squatted to put on her skates, tying them securely. “Don’t act like you were so far behind her.”

“I didn’t puke.”

“You tried to kiss my face off though,” he replied with a smile.

“And you let me.”

“You were wearing that little yellow dress and rubbing against me. I wasn’t gonna turn you down.”

Ginny laughed as she stood, holding onto Mike’s arm to steady herself until she got her footing. “The beer goggles must’ve been real that night.”

Mike snorted. “Yeah. It’s not like you’ve been pining for me or anything.”

“Pining? Hardly.”

Mike raised an eyebrow at her. “Really? Cause I’ve been asking around and apparently a lot of people asked you to the Snow Ball but you’ve been telling them you already have a date.”

Color crept up Ginny’s neck, settling in her cheeks as she looked away from him then suddenly turned back to smirk. “Well everyone asked me after we started this little beta test so I figured I shouldn’t leave my options too open.”

“It’s that time again!” the DJ announced. “Couples skate! All couples to the floor! Grab somebody special cause this tune is guaranteed to get the mood going!”

“Come on, Baker,” Mike said as he pulled her onto the floor.

Thomas Rhett’s “Die a Happy Man” boomed over the loud speakers and Ginny smiled as he looped his arm around her waist. “Couple’s skate? We must be going steady.”

Mike grinned, pushed her hair behind her ear. “You wish.”

“Oh yeah. Rachel Patrick’s sloppy seconds are a real dream come true.” She knew her face was flushed even as she smirked at him.

“ _Baby that red dress/ Brings me to my knees/ Oh but that black dress_ ,” his hands slipped dangerously low on her waist and Ginny scrunched her nose at him, tugged his beard, “ _Makes it hard it breathe/ You’re a saint/ You’re a goddess/ The cutest/ The hottest/ The masterpiece_ —”

“Oh you don’t have to tell me,” Ginny interrupted, grinning.

“ _And I know/ That I can’t/ Ever tell you enough_ ,” Mike sang on.

“ _That all I need in this life/ Is your crazy love_ ,” Ginny joined, smiling at him as he leaned his head down to rest his forehead on hers. Ginny tilted her head back, her fingers threading in the hair on the back of his neck, anticipation creeping up her spine when she realized he would kiss her. She was still smiling when his mouth slanted over hers.

xx

Evelyn let out a deafening squeal and Ginny rolled her eyes, heading for the door. “Let’s go. I’m hungry.”

They left the bathroom and rejoined the guys. Ginny smiled at the song playing on the radio as she leaned against Mike while he reclined on the car. “ _Baby last night/ Was hands down/ One of the best nights/ That I’ve had no doubt_ …”

“ _Between the bottle of wine/ And the look in your eyes/ And the Marvin Gaye_ ,” Mike replied with a grin.

Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling his head down to rest his forehead on hers. “ _Then we danced/ In the dark/ Under September stars/ In the pouring rain_ …”

“ _And I know/ That I can’t/ Ever tell you enough_ …”

“ _That all I need/ In this life/ Is your crazy love_.”

“Twice in two days? This must be our song,” Mike remarked.

“We have a song? That must mean we’re going steady,” Ginny replied with a smile.

Mike cradled her face in his hands, his thumb caressing her right dimple. “You’ve always been my girl, Baker.”

**Author's Note:**

> My neediness is no secret


End file.
